Max Verstappen started the new racing year with pole position at the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain. With a Q3 best time of 1:29.179 minutes, the Red Bull driver left Ferrari competitor Charles Leclerc, who was just over two tenths of a second behind, just behind him.
“It was a lot of fun. The track had a lot of grip, but the wind on the last two days made it difficult to put together a good lap. That was no different in qualifying,” says the pole setter from Bahrain.
“From Q1 to Q2 you automatically get a little faster because the track gets faster. In Q3 it was a little harder to really get everything out of it, but I’m very happy to be on pole. It was a little unexpected, but luckily it happened Car came to us in qualifying and I felt a little more comfortable.”
“We still had to fine-tune a few things on the car and try to find the perfect balance,” explains Verstappen. “It wasn’t easy today with the wind, but luckily it went in the right direction and we were able to push the car a little harder and take another step in qualifying.”
Max Verstappen in front for the first time in qualifying
After Verstappen didn’t finish any of the training sessions in first place, the three-time Formula 1 world champion once again delivered more than it counted and improved from qualifying section to qualifying section. Compared to Q2, he gained almost two tenths in Q3 – unlike Leclerc.
The Ferrari driver was just faster than Verstappen’s pole lap in Q2 with a time of 1:29.165 minutes, but was unable to improve any further in Q3. “It was a very close qualifying, which was certainly due to the difficult conditions with the wind,” says Verstappen.
“If you put the lap together well, you can find a tenth or a tenth and a half in one corner alone. Things went well for us in Q2 and Q3, especially Q3. But the gaps were super close. You didn’t really know before the start of Q3 who would make it to the pole. That made it exciting.”
Perhaps Oscar Piastri’s slipstream in the McLaren at the start of his pole lap helped Verstappen a little. When asked about it, he says: “I had to let him pass because there wasn’t enough space (between us; editor’s note).”
“I then followed him a bit towards Turn 1, which certainly gave me a little lap time, but not as much as the gap was at the end,” was Verstappen’s assessment. Compared to Leclerc, he had the upper hand, especially in sector 1, but lost time to the competition in the third sector.
“Yes, the third sector was our weak point throughout the weekend. It just didn’t go any faster, the car didn’t give me more,” explains the Red Bull driver. At the end, the Dutchman even apologized to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase on the team radio.
Red Bull with continuous progress
“I’m sorry, GP,” they said, because he hadn’t delivered a perfect lap. For the reigning Formula 1 world champion, only perfection counts. “You just try to keep improving with every run you do.”
“Of course, in qualifying you are a little more limited in what you can improve, but details can help. You also try to adapt to the track,” explains Verstappen. “And of course you always keep an eye on the competition, whether they are better in a particular corner or not.”
In this respect, there is always an exchange with his engineers during qualifying in order to find more time. “At the same time, of course, you work on yourself, maybe you don’t have such a good feeling in a certain curve and you try to correct that.”
As Verstappen suggests, there had also been a few corrections to the car beforehand: “We definitely improved the car from yesterday to today, and then took another small step from FT3 to qualifying, so that I felt a little more comfortable. And Then you can attack the corners better.”
In addition to gearshift problems, which “have been bothering us for a while,” the car’s balance in particular caused problems this weekend. “I just tried to get the car into the right working window with the front and rear axles and find a good middle ground.”
“On a track like this, which puts a lot of strain on the tires, with aggressive asphalt, a small slip and locking wheels can cost a lot of time. So it’s about the little things that make the car significantly better.”
Red Bull has already achieved this in qualifying. In the end, Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko was also “very satisfied”. He admits: “It was difficult. Leclerc was strong, as expected. Both of them didn’t get the best of the lap in the last sector, but it was enough.”